


Hip Roll & Thrust

by alyseofwonderland (Esyla)



Category: UNIQ (Band), 陈情令 | The Untamed (TV) RPF
Genre: Dance mentor au, M/M, Mini Fic, No beta we die like wei wuxian, Non-Famous Xiao Zhan | Sean, One Shot, Produce 101 AU, Xfire au, the undeniable eroticism of teaching someone to dance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-01
Updated: 2021-02-01
Packaged: 2021-03-12 14:00:30
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,684
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29136696
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Esyla/pseuds/alyseofwonderland
Summary: Dance Mentor Wang Yibo seems to have it out for Trainee Xiao Zhan. Or does he?
Relationships: Wang Yi Bo/Xiao Zhan | Sean
Comments: 53
Kudos: 325





	Hip Roll & Thrust

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer - I haven’t watched XFire. I have however watched a decent amount of Produce 101 (i stopped because I cried too hard when girls got cut) and parts of Idol Producer 2 ( me @ wenhan ‘you’re doing amazing sweetie.)
> 
> I wrote 90% of this in a fugue state while doing writing sprints to help out my discord group hit our word counts for the month. Grammarly hates it.

XIAO ZHAN AMAZING AUDITION CLIP!!!! Wang Yibo be nice!

Video description:

Xiao Zhan, a hopeful contestant comes on stage. He is wearing a large sweater and jeans. His fringe hangs over his forehead. He bows before starting his song.

Tao: Oh yes.

Ella Chen: Wow.

[the camera pans to the mentors and part of the crowd while the song continues.]

The clip cuts to after the interview portion.

[the mentors huddle up to talk]

Ella Chen: Group A, absolutely.

Tao and Tiger Hu nod in agreement.

Wang Yibo: No, group B. He didn’t dance at all.

Show Lo: Wang Yibo, try to be nice!

Wang Yibo looks over his shoulder at Xiao Zhan who awaits on stage looking nervous. He turns back to the others: Group B.

  
  
  


Comments:

@SungJuiceBox

Why is Yibo being so harsh on this guy?!?!?! His song was way better than the other groups.

@skyrocketgirls

WYB with other contestants - good effort keep trying

WYB with the tall graphic designer - get to group b you peasant

@younbolife

Yall are acting like group B is some super harsh grade when it is the second highest ranking, calm down people!

@uniqlyme

Wait. didn’t they say that Yibo is the main dance instructor for group b? Was that in the first episode

@bobobaby

How can you be sure?

@uniqlyme

Go watch the longer dance clips on the WeTV website. After he teaches all the groups the dance he works with B & D while Show works with A & C & F

@EXOstanis

I saw a man so beautiful I started crying.

-

“Again!” Yibo called from his spot at the front of the studio. Group B was struggling with the first dance way more than he was expecting. It wasn’t a complicated dance. What was their hang-up with the moves?

“Stop!” Yibo called out for the music to pause. The trainees froze in their poses and he walked over to the one that was holding the rest of the team back. “You are way too tense,” Yibo explained coming up next to trainee Xiao Zhan. “You need to loosen up between your steps, and don’t forget your face.”

“My face?” Xiao Zhan asked blinking doe eyes at Yibo.

“Half of the dance performance is in the face.” Yibo faced the mirror. “Here watch.” He did the move, a hip roll, with a blank face. “It’s boring even if my body is moving the right way.” 

“I wouldn’t call that boring, lǎoshī” Xiao Zhan offered with a sense of awe. “You did it perfectly.”

Yibo did the hip roll again but this time made sure to lock eyes with himself in the mirror and  _ act _ along with the motion. Some of the other trainees snickered, embarrassed by the clearly sexual air Yibo had injected into the move.

“Oh, I see.” Xiao Zhan stuttered through with a blush. “That’s - that’s very different.” He bowed low to Yibo. “Thank you for showing me I shall work to better control my face.”

“Good.” Yibo turned back to the trainees sitting on the side. “Let’s see the next group.” 

He did not pay attention to the fact that Xiao Zhan’s blush lasted the rest of the session, his cheeks a bright splotchy red. 

-

“What is your hang-up with him?” Wenhan asks after the first edits for episode one are put together.

“Who?” Yibo asks, not having paid much attention to the rough episode edit he was just shown, his head too full of dance numbers he is working to make.

“The tall one,” Wenhan rewinds the video to show a moment from the auditions day. Yibo knows this moment. Xiao Zhan auditioned as a solo artist, without the backing of other dancers to help him. The vocal coaches had been blown away by him, wanting to put him in A after hearing him sing. Yibo had insisted he be lower.

“His control is terrible,” Yibo explained. It was the truth. The older man had no previous dance experience and was a disaster in lessons. 

“That’s what you tell the others,” Wenhan told him. “I however know the truth. You are only this hard on yourself or teammates.”

Yibo froze at the look on his friend’s face.

“Which is it Yibo? Do you think he’s bad or are you hard on him because you like him?”

-

Xiao Zhan had expected it to be hard. He had. He had told himself that he chose to do this, quit his career, and run after a dream that it would be hard. He just hadn’t expected it to be this  **Sweaty** . God, he was drenched.

The dance studio room was empty, everyone else had gone to bed. Xiao Zhan knew that he should probably go sleep as well but he knew if he went to sleep now he would lose the thread of this dance by the time he got back to it tomorrow. 

He hit the button on the remote to restart the song and started the dance from the top, remembering to watch himself in the mirror so that he could see the expression on his face.  _ think sexy _ he reminded himself.  _ this is a sexy song _ . 

Xiao Zhan was so focused on his own expression and movement that he didn’t hear the door opening. The only way he knew that someone else was in the room was when the music clicked off. Xiao Zhan gasped, slipping on the floor and pinwheeling back onto his butt.

“Sorry.” Coach Wang Yibo offered when Xiao Zhan looked over at the younger man. “I didn’t mean to startle you.”

“It’s not your fault. You aren’t the reason I’m sweating enough to get the floor slippery.” Xiao Zhan sighed, pulling the edge of his shirt up to mop off his face. “How was I doing Lǎoshī?”

Yibo’s semi vacant stare snapped back into the present. He was clearly considering his next words carefully. 

“Show me one more time.” Yibo turned to click the music back on. “And stand in a dry spot on the floor.” Xiao Zhan laughed but moved forward toward the mirror and where Yibo stood next to the door and sound system. 

He got all the way through the routine once before Yibo restarted the music and came over to him. Putting his hands on Xiao Zhan’s hips and turning him slightly to the side and then pressing another hand on his chest so the angle was more extreme.

“Feel how that pulls your abs tight.” Yibo ran a finger along the tense muscles of Xiao Zhan’s torso. “That’s the line you want to create in the middle. It will make the roll pop more.”

“Oh, I’ll try again.” Xiao Zhan tried to hold the feeling of his body pulled in two directions in his mind as he did the motion again. This time his body felt stretched out, tense in a way he hadn’t expected, not stiff. 

“Good boy.” Yibo praised.

_ Fuck. _

“I should be getting to bed. It’s nearly 2 am and I have to be up at 7 for the singing lessons. I’m going to be in trouble already for missing sleep.”

“This is why I rap.” Yibo offered with a cocky grin. “No one cares how much water I am drinking or sleep I am getting cuz I don’t have to hit any high notes.”

“Brat.” Xiao Zhan snapped, without thinking. 

They both froze, each realizing that the dynamic had just shifted. He had insulted his TEACHER on a SURVIVAL SHOW. What the fuck was wrong with him? Yibo’s wide eyes suddenly gave way to a devastating smirk.

“I am in your care Gege.” Yibo’s voice was pitched higher imitating someone even younger.

“Aiyah, I’m sorry lǎoshī!” Xiao Zhan bowed. “This one will be going to bed now.” 

Xiao Zhan fled. There wasn’t any other word for the fast retreat he made back to the dorms. He also didn’t climb right into the twin bed in the camera monitored bedroom, instead diving headfirst into a shower. There were no cameras in the showers. No would see him wrap a hand around himself and sink his teeth into his arms thinking about long fingers sliding along his stomach, broad hands pushing him around so he was exactly where he was supposed to be.

_ good boy _ echoed in his head. 

-

So maybe, MAYBE, he was touchier with Xiao Zhan than any other of the trainees. This was not something that would stand out to anyone else because he was the dance coach for the show and of course he was going to have to touch and adjust the trainees from time to time. Yibo had known that when he signed on, hell he had argued to be a part of the version with guys because the idea of having to touch a bunch of young girls had made him vaguely queasy.

Anyway.

It wasn’t an issue. He was a professional.

“Get a room already,” Wenhan told him that night when Yibo went to see his friend in the dailies booth. “Please. I will pay for it myself. I cannot be forced to watch you drool over the tall gege any longer.”

“I don’t know what you are talking about,” Yibo did not meet his friend’s eyes.

“Oh, you don’t?” Wenhan clicks on one of his monitors until the editing software came up. He clicked through several files and then a video started playing on the third monitor in the room.

The evidence was rather damning when edited together, and music added. A close up of Yibo putting his hand on Xiao Zhan’s chin to tilt his head. The two of them doing hip rolls and body rolls over and over again watching each other in the mirror. Yibo wrapping a hand around Xiao Zhan’s wrist to drag him to a spot on the dance floor, manhandling him bodily as the taller man giggled at the attention.

“When the fuck did you have time to do this?” Yibo asks rather than address the loving edits and smooth tones of the song playing over the video.

“I’m trying to improve my editing skills.” Wenhan shrugged. “Not all of us can go on to have dance careers now. I need to have some other skills now that we are a defunct group.”

“We aren’t defunct.” Yibo snapped. They weren’t. It was just an issue of international tensions. It didn’t mean that Uniq was never getting back together. 

“I like it,” Wenhan explained. “You remember how much fun I had doing music videos. I thought I would have liked the costuming and makeup but editing is a kind of costume and make-up. You take the raw materials of the shoot and make it beautiful.”

“Oh.” Yibo didn’t really think about editing. He just got up on stage and danced. Or got in a studio and rapped. Or stood on stage and tried weird food. At the end of it, he just went home to his Lego sets and didn’t think about how the things he saw were edited.

“Yeah.” Wenhan agreed. “Which is why!” His tone suddenly teasing, “I can tell you right now that if you don’t calm the fuck down my edits won’t be the only supercuts of you and Xiao Zhan on the internet.”

“You can't post that.”

“I can't post it until after the show airs.” Wenhan clarifies. “After that, no laws can stop me.”

“I'll call Yixuan.”

“I already sent him the video.” Wenhan’s smile was triumphant. “He would like to pitch into paying for the room.”

“Seungyoun wouldn’t treat me this way,” Yibo whined. 

“Yes, he would” Wenhan countered.

“Yes, he would.” Yibo agreed.

Fuck. He was going to have to deal with this Thing he had for the trainee. 

-

“Why are you here?” Yibo asks. 

“I reserved this room.” Xiao Zhan explains with confusion. “Did I get the rooms mixed up?”

“No,” Yibo huffs. “Why are you  _ here _ , on this show?” He is at the front of the room in a low squat watching Xiao Zhan dance. “I mean you are older than all the other trainees.”

“You calling me old now?” Xiao Zhan teased. “Are my aching joints moving too slow for the youngster? Do I need to be wheeled out of here?”

“Don’t exaggerate. You aren’t  _ old _ ”. Yibo rolled his eyes. “Besides, older guys are always hotter.” Xiao Zhan  _ felt _ that in the pit of his stomach, a dagger of heat. “I’m guessing that’s why you quit your job to come on the show. Realized you were too hot to work a desk job?” His grin glittered with wicked delight.

“Aiyah this flattery?” Xiao Zhan sighed. “Have you been talking to my mother?”

“No.” Yibo shook his head. “I have eyes.”

“Stop teasing me.” Xiao Zhan quipped. “You are supposed to be helping me learn disco.”

“I don’t know Disco.” Yibo shamelessly explained. “I was born in ‘97 Lao Xiao Zhan would know much more about disco than I do.”

“That’s it!” Xiao Zhan stomped forward. “You need to learn to respect your elders.” Yibo, with some kind of self-preservation, darted out of the room with a manic laugh. 

-

“Older guys are always hotter?” Wenhan asks.

“I stand by my statement.” Yibo would not give in. He hadn’t been the youngest member of Uniq without learning  _ skills _ .

“I’m taking up a collection from the crew. We are gonna get the two of you a suit in the mountains and lock you in there until all this sexual tension is gone.”

“Don’t know that it would work.” Yibo bites his lip. “If I knew what he tasted like I don’t think I would be  _ less _ horny.”

Wenhan dry heaved. “Why! Do You say Things. Like. that?”

“Because you’re my brother. It’s my job to gross you out.”

“Mission accomplished. Get out of my editing booth. Go drink some water. Be less thirsty.”

“I’m not thirsty for water.” Yibo clarified. “I’m thirsty for tha-”

He dodges out of the room to avoid the water bottle and plastic fork headed towards his head.

-

The semi-finals are next week and Xiao Zhan can’t sleep. He’s made it, again. Another round of eliminations and he is still here. It doesn’t feel real. The building feels empty with nearly all the other guys gone. The corpse of a once vibrant community. 

He goes to the dance studio on instinct. It’s where he spends most of his time. The voice coaches don’t have a lot of notes for him. They tell him a lot of the things he already knows, make him practice and then go on vocal rest. On the other hand, he was still a novice at dance, needing constant practice.

The lights are off in the group b studio and Xiao Zhan doesn’t turn them on, walking out to the center of the room and laying down on the floor like a starfish. It’s been a journey. Group b is gone. Now they are all just fighting for the final nine spots. Soon he will never see this room again, one way or the other. 

He let the dark embrace him.

The quiet footsteps that approached sometime later feel more like an inevitability. Of course, they would be here together.

“What you thinking?” Wang Yibo asks as he joins Xiao Zhan on the floor.

“The future.” Xiao Zhan whispers into the vast space between them. “What comes next.”

“Hmm.” Yibo hums in consideration. “What do you think comes next?”

“Either I make it, and my time and life are consumed by my dream and all the strings attached.” Xiao Zhan speaks the truth for the first time aloud. 

“Or?” Wang Yibo has always been able to hear the other half of what he doesn't say.

“Or I don’t. And I get to go back to being a designer who doesn't have to worry about who he dates.” That’s the terrifying part, isn't it? He had chosen to leave that life behind, had wanted this. But now that it was so close he couldn't help but wonder if it would be worth it. 

“Well, that’s bullshit.” Yibo snorted. “You can date whoever you want whether you make it or not. But you are going to make it.”

“I thought I was your worst student.” Xiao Zhan rolled onto his side so he was facing the other man. 

“That just means you had the least training. It doesn't mean you have the least potential.” Yibo turns his head so he looks at Xiao Zhan. “You are so talented Zhan-ge. You are gonna make the top nine and then one day you are going to be the biggest star in all of China.”

“What if I want something different?” Xiao Zhan wonders.

“I don't think there’s anything you could possibly want and not be able to obtain. You’re so strong.” Yibo’s flattery is different now. They aren't dancing around each other this time.

“But am I allowed to want more?” Xiao Zahn breathes.

“Yes.” 

It’s gravity that pulls them together. The center of everything holding them in orbit of one another, decaying over time so that they eventually crash into one another. The kiss is soft and hot and so so telling. Like planets spinning and colliding it keeps going, lips parting as every single dance move they have exchanged becomes tangible.

“I wasn’t sure.” Xiao Zhan admits when they come up for air.

“Well, it’s good to know you have at least one flaw.” Yibo slides against him, practicing that hip roll with full contact leaving Xiao Zhan gasping. “You’re kind of an idiot.”

“Shut up.” Xiao Zhan growls. He chases Yibo, this time with his lips and hands.

He can worry about the future later.

-

“Who is your favorite brother?” Wenhan asks, interrupting Yibo’s lunch.

“Seungyoun.” Yibo answers without even looking up from his phone.

“Who is your favorite brother who just saved your career?” Wenhan asks, this time with a flash drive shoved in Yibo’s face.

Right. Fuck. The camera in the dance studio.

“Li Wenhan,” Yibo answers around a lump in his throat. 

“Good.” Wenhan nods. “I never want to see you dry humping on camera again. Now that I’ve saved you from humiliation, we are gonna seriously talk about how to make this  _ work _ .” He sits down next to Yibo and pulls out his own phone. “These are the blind spots.”

“Thank you,” Yibo tells him, overwhelmed suddenly.

“Shut up. Don’t look at me like that.” Wenhan shoves him. “I'm sick of you moping about. I'm not gonna let my childhood sweetheart let love slip through his fingers.”

“We aren’t childhood sweethearts.” Yibo reminds him.

“Sure, that’s the problem with my statement. Sap.” Wenhan rolls his eyes. “Call the manager. You are gonna want to make sure she has all the info before your boy signs any kind of contract.” Yibo leans over and places a wide mouth kiss on Wenhan’s cheek. 

“You’re the best!”

-

  
  


There’s a clip from the finale episode that is all over Douyin. Someone has cut together the shots of Yibo attempting to grab some of the falling confetti, and Xiao Zhan also reaching out to catch the flying pieces of gold paper. The Wii character song plays as both of them reach out again and again.

In the end, Xiao Zhan finally snags one, it had fallen on Peng Chuyue, he holds it up triumphantly. In the video, it is visible that he turns to where Yibo is across the stage and waves the strip of paper at the other man whose face breaks out into a smile warmer than the sun. 

-

“So we finally get to met the boyfriend,” Feng-ge says with a slap to Yibo’s back.

“Do Not Embarrass Me,” he commands.

“So I shouldn't ask him if you did the lift from Dirty Dancing?” Feng-ge blinks his eyes innocently. “Wait no, the one from Step Up? Did he lift you?”

“Leave A-Bo alone.” Han-ge cuts in. “This is serious.” Yibo knew that Han-ge was his favorite for a reason. “We have to make sure this young man understands that if he hurts Yibo no one will ever find his body.”

Yibo pulls out his phone

  
  


Do not come on the show. Retire from being an idol right now. I'll work extra hard if you promise not to come.

No can do. Someone said I was super talented and was going to be china’s number one star one day.

I did not say number one.

[LINK TO Douyin VIDEO BY LiWeHandsome]

This viral video says otherwise.

-

Yibo finally had Xiao Zhan where he wanted him, in a green room without all of his meddling brothers when  _ someone _ had to ruin his post-episode fun.

“Thanks for tripping all of us.” Peng Chuyue sighed with a huff coming into the room. Yibo reluctantly removed his mouth from his boyfriend’s and turned to look at said boyfriend’s bandmate.

“Do you have something to say?” Yibo refused to be shamed out of Xiao Zhan’s lap. Not when he had those wonderful arms around him and there weren't any cameras in sight.

“Nah,” Peng Chuyue laughed, “Just let me get my stuff out of the room before the two of you start going at it.”

“He’s sorry for tripping you.” Xiao Zhan cut in.

“No, I’m not.” Yibo said at the exact moment that Peng Chuyue said “No he’s not.”

“I get it.” Peng Chuyu gave Yibo a nod. “Reclaimed territory and all that.”

“What?” Xiao Zhan asked with innocent eyes turned to Yibo. For someone so devastatingly handsome he could be awfully stupid sometimes. 

“You almost kissed him, in the game, with the paper.” Yibo dug his nails into Xiao Zhan’s arms with a very small bit of vicious delight.

“Oh, so that’s why you jumped me the moment filming was over, in full view of your brothers and all my bandmates.”

“Gege has forgotten Yibo. He is cold and unfeeling now that he is a famous idol.” Yibo pouted.

“How did I ever think you were serious and mature?” Xiao Zhan wonders aloud.

“I have no idea. I was teaching you hip thrust from the first day.”

**Author's Note:**

> thanks for reading the word vomit.
> 
> find me [@alyseofwnderlnd on twitter](https://twitter.com/alyseofwnderlnd)
> 
> or [ alyseofwonderland on tumblr](https://alyseofwonderland.tumblr.com/)
> 
> i write crimes against the English language and make it everyone else's problem.


End file.
